


Feline Charm

by einsKai



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Author is trans, Banter, Cat Shapeshifter!Riku, Cat Shapeshifter!Tenn, Cats, Domestic Fluff, First Kiss, Friendship, Gaku is trans, GakuTenn Jesus Kai breaking the bread once again, Getting Together, Healthy Brotherly Relationships, Humor, Lap Pillow, M/M, Magical Realism, Raven Shapeshifter!Yamato, Shapeshifting, Slow Burn, Strawberries, Tea, Trans Male Character, Witch!Gaku, Witch!Ryuu, also it's not actually that relevant to the story but I wanted to include it as a detail, boyfriend shirt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-11 16:20:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16478885
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/einsKai/pseuds/einsKai
Summary: In front of where he had just seemingly emerged from nothing, a small white cat sat and looked at him with big, intelligent eyes. It was drenched from the rain.aka the five times Tenn used Gaku's lap as a pillow + the one time Gaku used Tenn's lap as a pillow





	Feline Charm

**Author's Note:**

> Hello and welcome to my Halloween story!
> 
> I really enjoyed writing this and like this fic a lot, so I'd be happy if other people like it as much as I do.
> 
> I included Gaku being trans in the tags, even though it's not explicitly stated in the fic (though one scene is pretty obvious, but I left it ambiguous so people could ignore it).  
> Being a witch is also kind of a metaphor for being LGBTQ+ in this. Gaku is careful about hiding that he's a witch, but then Ryuu and Tenn who have no restraint whatsoever stumble into his life, and he grows more comfortable with himself.
> 
> That's enough rambling, have fun reading!
> 
> Happy Halloween!
> 
> -Kai

It was raining heavily when Gaku closed the magic passage behind him. It had been a long day at the store and he regretted that none of the aether veins came closer to his house than this one. This way he always had to walk back to his house and on top of that he always had to send the raven to investigate whether or not civilians were close. He didn’t want to be seen passing through a magic portal. Despite more modern times than those where his kind had been burned at the stake, witches were still feared and Gaku didn’t want to deal with having to flee a city _again_. His rent here was cheap and he was actually quite happy with how he had designed his store this time around. Inside the store it was easy to spot those who wanted to hurt him, and he could use a transformation to evade their proving gazes. While having a portal open it wasn’t possible to also keep a transformation up.

_“If you’re so worried about getting discovered, why don’t you just do it like any other normal person and blend in by using public transport?”, his familiar, the raven shapeshifter Nikaido Yamato, had said when they had talked about it._

_Of course Gaku had refused that immediately. A witch on a bus? No way he was going to humiliate himself like that._

A mew interrupted his thoughts. In front of the corner where he had just opened a passage, seemingly emerged from nothing and closed the passage again, a small white cat sat and looked at him with big, intelligent eyes. It was drenched from the rain.

Gaku wasn’t new to dealing with animals, Yamato sitting on his shoulder was living proof, even though maybe he didn’t really count as an animal. He crouched down and held his hand out. From the bag he had slung around his shoulder he produced one of the treats he reserved for fellow witches who brought their familiars along to his store. Yamato had other preferences, so he didn’t mind Gaku feeding the other animals.

When the cat came closer to him to nudge his fingers Gaku extended the spell that protected Yamato and him from the rain to the cat as well. It had been necessary, he noticed, when the cat sneezed.

Adorable.

With a snap of his fingers Gaku produced a fluffy towel from thin air, and held it open for the cat to jump onto it. To his surprise the cat complied, and Gaku was careful to not hurt it when he cradled it to his chest. He didn’t feel any kind of magic powers from this cat. It was nothing but an ordinary house-cat. Still, those intelligent eyes felt like they were haunting him.

“I’ll take proper care of you at home, alright?”, he said in a soft tone reserved for children and small animals. Yamato had begun flying ahead of them, but Gaku could swear he could hear a croak that sounded like laughter.

Despite the spell that protected both him and the cat from the harsh weather, he felt the need to hunch over and shield the tiny body from the rain using his body.  
In that fashion he made his way to his apartment building.

Gaku had rented an apartment on the second floor, because it was the one that had the best position to let the moon into the rooms, in case he needed it for a potion a costumer requested, but sometimes he regretted the fact that he hadn’t searched for a house with an elevator. Well, maybe that was one of the factors why the rent was so cheap.

After walking up the stairs he snapped his fingers to unlock the door. Inside Yamato was already waiting for him, stretching his human limbs, after he had stayed as the raven the entire day.  
Yamato was one of the shape shifters who preferred to be in their human form, but according to himself Yamato was too lazy to live a normal human’s life. That was why he had found himself a witch.

Familiars and witches had a symbiotic relationship. While just the presence – let alone the touch – of an animal with familiar-traits, like a shapeshifter, who brimmed over from magic energy, massively increased a witch’s powers, the witch fed the familiar and gave it shelter. In Gaku’s case it was as if he had gained a sarcastic and lazy roommate in exchange for greater magical powers.

Gaku took the cat to the living room and began properly drying it off. He didn’t use magic, in order to not scare the cat too much, instead opting for using the towel he had summoned from his bathroom earlier.

The cat’s fur that had been wet and sticking closely to the cat’s body not too long ago was now standing up and looked fluffy, similar to the towel. Now that Gaku could look at it in the better lighting in his living room, he could see that the cat wasn’t completely white, but actually had a bit of colour on its right ear. It was only a faint colour, a light red, almost pink. The witch petted the coloured ear and earned a soft mew. He smiled at the creature that had now sat down in his lap.

“Other than food, what do cats need?”, Gaku asked. Yamato had gotten a beer from their fridge and opened the can before sitting down next to him on the sofa.

“I like dogs more, so no idea. Try looking it up online?”

“Big help you are”, Gaku opened up his laptop that was sitting in its place on the coffee table. As a magic being he didn’t like relying on modern technology. It often disturbed the flow of magic, but sometimes using them was inevitable. Especially the anonymity was useful when searching for advice with a potion. Forums like the ‘Blocksberg’ were great for advice and emotional support. Witches didn’t have it easy in this society.

Gaku sighed when he typed “things that cats need” in the search bar.  
He was positively surprised.  
The witch had expected to stumble across a bunch of unhelpful memes and little useful information, like he usually found when he had tried to do online research on non-witch problems in the past, but apparently the people on the internet were really passionate about cats. There was a mass of information that Gaku thought he could easily use.

“Yamato”, he said, “You’ll have to watch over the shop alone tomorrow. I need to buy supplies for our new friend.”

“Before you plan on keeping the cat, why don’t you find out if there’s an owner first?”

Gaku stared at the cat that, now dry, didn’t look as small as it had done before. It had curled up in his lap and had closed its eyes. It was probably exhausted from staying out in the rain.

“Maybe there’s a poor little girl crying her eyes out for her lost Kitty-chan somewhere out there. Searching in the rain… Completely drenched… But Kitty-chan is nowhere to be found, because big bad witch Yaotome Gaku took Kitty-chan with him…”

Yamato wiped a fake tear from his eye, and Gaku threw a pillow at his face to shut him up. He made sure it stuck to his face for a few seconds, to annoy him a little more.

“I’ll put up some posters”, he said and imagined the poster in front of his inner eye. It manifested in front of him with a flash of white light that was typical for his spells when they were more complicated than opening a door or summoning something from his bathroom.

Yamato had managed to pry the pillow from his face and took a look at the poster.  
“That’s not what this cat looks like”, he snickered, “Why is your mental imagination this bad all the time?”

“You can totally see that it’s this cat!”, Gaku held the poster into the cat’s field of view and poked it, “Hey, cat. It’s you.”

Yamato began laughing after a few seconds of the cat staring at the (really good) poster that (the great and most handsome witch) Gaku made. “The cat just crunched up its nose in disgust!”

“It didn’t. That was approval!”

“It wasn’t, it wasn’t, no way.”

“Do you want the pillow to stick to your face longer this time?!”

Yamato put his can of beer down onto the coffee table and turned into the raven to land on Gaku’s shoulder. Either it was to evade the pillow, or to force Gaku to hit himself with it.  
The cat, now awake, dug its claws into Gaku’s thighs and he winced at the sharp pain.

“I’m sorry cat, I’ll stop fighting with him and take proper care of you.”

With another snap of his fingers his magic, strengthened by Yamato’s touch, reproduced the poster he had just crafted, and with another one he placed the posters at the best points for it around the area.

“See?”, Gaku said and showed his empty hands to the cat, “Now your owner will surely come here to find you quickly.”

The cat blinked at him with those intelligent eyes again, as if it wanted to tell Gaku something. Sadly he didn’t speak cat, so he just petted the cat’s head with two of his fingers. The soft, short fur on top of the head felt good, and apparently his fingers felt good to the cat as well, because it closed its eyes again and purred.

A sudden noise startled Gaku from the moment he had just had with the cat.

He and Yamato looked up at the same time – to the window, where someone was knocking.  
It was surprising to find a visitor this late at day, and after the rain had just picked up as well… Also they lived on the second floor.

Gaku did the only sensible thing in that situation. He opened the window.

Without getting up in order to not disturb the cat of course.

The window flung open, and along with a little storm, a very huge witch and a cat-type familiar came inside on their broom.

Immediately Gaku closed the window again and from his position on the couch he greeted his guests.  
“Welcome in the house of the great witch Yaotome Gaku, how can I help you? My store usually isn’t open at this hour, so if it is anything regarding that, please come back during the opening hours… and come to the store and not my house.”

“Your store?”, the other witch asked. He was tall, taller than Gaku himself actually, and that was unusual already, Gaku had made sure that his body grew tall using magic, and had broad shoulders. His eyes seemed to be made from liquid gold, and his skin was toned nicely, fitting well with his brown hair, untouched by the rain.

“Shit, he’s hot”, Yamato croaked into Gaku’s ear. It was the truth – there was nothing Gaku could do but agree.

“I didn’t come here because of – oh I forgot to introduce myself”, the witch laughed awkwardly, “My name is Tsunashi Ryuunosuke, but it’s alright to call me Ryuu, and this is my familiar, Nanase Riku”, he pointed at the other cat in the room, the one that was still sitting on the broom that Tsunashi Ryuunosuke had left already. It was still floating in the air next to the window though. The Riku-cat looked at Gaku with the same intelligent eyes Gaku had seen in the cat in his lap. Even his fur colour looked similar to the other cat, only that his white was disrupted by a darker red colour instead of a pink one, and it was on the left ear, not on the right.

“Well, he’s one of my familiars, we’re in search for his brother, Tenn.”

“And you came here because…?”, Gaku asked.

“The posters”, Riku on the broom chirped. Then he seemed surprised at his own voice. Who would be surprised that they could talk, Gaku thought, but well, maybe that one had been turned into a cat only recently or something similar to that.

“Oh, so this is your brother?”, Gaku looked down at the cat in his lap, which was watching the situation with interest.

“Hello Riku”, a new voice suddenly said, and it took him a moment to realize that the cat had spoken.

“You can _talk_?”, Gaku asked, “Wow, it would’ve been so much easier to find Ryuu if you had said something. I wouldn’t have to put all those posters up… for five minutes.”

“I couldn’t talk until Riku was in the same room with me. A few moments ago I was an ordinary cat. Well, not exactly _ordinary_ , but more ordinary than I am now.”

Gaku’s face must have looked like a giant question mark, at least that was what he felt like. Yamato on his shoulder was apparently still drooling over Ryuu, so he wasn’t a big help either. Thankfully a knight in shining armour, or rather, a fellow witch, came to his aid.

“The two of them are twin shapeshifters”, Ryuu explained. Immediately Gaku understood more than before. Twins were special in the magic cosmos. A special energy connected them, and whether that was good or bad was up to fate, “Alone they’re non-magic creatures. But if they’re together they shine brightly like a star.”

“So the two together are your familiars?”, Gaku asked. Now that Ryuu mentioned it, Gaku felt magic from the cat that still hadn’t moved from his lap. That hadn’t been there before.

“Exactly. And when we noticed that Tenn had gotten lost we got worried and began searching immediately.”

“On a broom. In the middle of the city. While it’s not completely dark.”

“Yes? What’s the problem with that?”

Gaku sighed: “Nothing actually. I’m just not used to witches openly showing that they are… witches.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Well, then…”, Ryuu scratched his neck in an uncomfortable gesture, “Can I get my familiar back?”

“If he gets off my lap, sure.”

“I’m here, you know.”

“And you’re not moving away from my lap.”

“It’s comfortable.”

“Tenn-nii, come on, we have a mission tomorrow.”

“Mission? What kind of witch are you?”, Gaku asked. He was curious about that reckless witch who wasn’t afraid to show who he was to the world.

“I mostly exorcise ghosts, but I’m basically an allrounder. I do most stuff only for myself though, or if someone needs my help. The ghost exorcising brings enough money to live from”, Ryuu said, “Tomorrow we’re investigating a case of a ghost who is afraid of himself, apparently.”

“Sounds hilarious”, Tenn said and jumped off Gaku’s lap. He walked over to the broom and sat down next to his brother. Together like this they radiated powerful magic, completely different than when Gaku had first met the cat. Truly the power of twins. “Bye bye, great witch Yaotome Gaku.”

“Goodbye, I hope we’ll have another opportunity to get to know each other better. I’m sorry this is hurried like this, but I’m pretty sure I left the fire on when we left to go look for Tenn, so we should hurry back now.”

“Yeah, same here”, Yamato answered for Gaku, and with that the other witch disappeared through the window and left no evidence that they had ever been here.

“You know”, Gaku said, “When I said that his owner would come quickly I didn’t think it would be _this_ quickly.”

 

 

When Gaku came home from the shop a few weeks later — in the meantime he and Ryuu had met up one, or two times and had become friends — he found a young man sitting in front of his door. He seemed to be waiting for something.

"Who are you?", Gaku asked the man, and in turn that one rolled his eyes at him.

"I'm Tenn", he said, "The cat. You know. This is my other form."

Oh. His surprise must have been visible on his face, because Tenn rolled his eyes again.

"Will you open the door and let me in now, or are we going to be sitting outside here for a little longer?"

Gaku opened the door without a word, and quickly Tenn was inside already.

"Where's Nikaido Yamato?", the cat shapeshifter asked while he was already loosening up on the sofa.

"Nikaido is at Ryuu's tonight", Gaku said, and came to the sofa as well. He had set everything up for his magical kitchen appliances to cook tea for them, "It's only a matter of time when those two will start dating."

"Ryuu didn't shut up about him after that first time you two came over. It was annoying."

"Sorry for your loss of time", he sat down on the sofa, careful to not disturb Tenn's space. Which proved to be no problem at all, as Tenn just placed his head in Gaku's lap and closed his eyes.

He looked vulnerable like this, on his back and his throat exposed. Tenn really trusted him, Gaku thought. Carefully he let a few fingers slide into Tenn's hair and massaged his scalp. A noise in the back of Tenn’s throat was the answer. It almost sounded like the purr he had let out in his cat-form, but not quite. It was a human noise after all.

Even like this Tenn was adorable, Gaku found.

“So, why are you here?”

“Ryuu and Riku are exhausting to be around”, Tenn said, “And they’re both on dates this night.”

Being left alone in a situation like that sounded annoying, so Gaku understood why Tenn wanted company. But why choose him for company? If Gaku was Tenn he wouldn’t choose himself, even though he was the best guy he had ever met, and he said so himself.

“So you want to be spoiled too?”, the tea was finished, and from his sitting position he filled the cups with his magic. It was a little exhausting without his familiar, but he didn’t want to disturb Tenn by standing up, “How about some tea then?”

“I want mine with sugar.”

“Sugar, coming up.”

Tenn received his cup of tea with sugar that came floating from the kitchen area. He caught it with both his hands and smiled at the warmth. When he took a sip his face scrunched up adorably.

“This is probably the worst tea I’ve had in my life.”

Gaku’s complaint got drowned out in laughter.

 

 

It was the spring after they had first rescued the cat that had later turned out to be Tenn, and Yamato had just woken up from one of his old-man naps he liked to take in the afternoon when it was warm outside.

The raven stopped in his tracks. It seemed that he had walked in on a strange scene.

In their living room his witch was sitting on the sofa with a head in his lap, and a bowl of strawberries that he had neatly cut up so no unripe parts or leaves were left on them floating next to them. From time to time a strawberry floated out of the bowl and into Gaku’s mouth. Lazy witch. With his hand he was stroking the other person’s hair.

“Hey Tenn”, Gaku said before noticing that Yamato had sneaked up on them already. Ah, so the person in Gaku’s lap had been Tenn. Not that Yamato had expected anyone else to be here, the only other people who ever came over were friends of theirs, and only one of their friends had this particular hair colour, the light pink that was also found in Tenn’s fur when one looked closely.

“Hm?”, was the answer. Tenn sounded like he was half-asleep. Well, Yamato couldn’t hold it against him. This warmth was unnatural for early spring, and it was just out to make one sleepy.

“Can cats eat strawberries?”, Gaku asked. Yamato in his hiding spot supressed a snicker. Just ask him if he wants any if you want to share them with him, Yamato thought, and kind of regretted that he wasn’t the type of familiar to have a mental connection to the witch. But then again he would have to listen to Gaku’s thoughts all the time, and he really didn’t want that.

“I think they can?”, Tenn sounded confused. Obviously, who wouldn’t be confused at a question like that. Gaku never asked Yamato whether or not ravens could drink beer. Obviously it wouldn’t exactly be a normal raven’s diet, but Yamato wasn’t a normal raven, he just happened to have two skins for one mind, and his mind was very much on a human’s level, and _loved_ beer, “I doubt most cats would want to eat strawberries, but there probably wouldn’t be any complications.”

“Hm…”, Gaku mused, and then a strawberry floated from the bowl and into Tenn’s direction. In front of the cat shapeshifter’s face it stopped. “Want one?”, Gaku asked, and when Tenn’s mouth opened, the strawberry flew inside. Tenn chewed and then smiled.

“These are very delicious, where did you get them?”

“From the market, yesterday”, Gaku answered, “There’s a farmer. She’s an adorable old lady, and her strawberries are the best I’ve ever tasted.”

Yamato had enough of this sweet-talk.

“Sorry to interrupt your _absolutely endearing_ domesticity, but Onii-san needs to go to the fridge”, he said and walked past the two. On his way he took one of the strawberries and popped it into his mouth. It was sour and sweet at the same time, a perfect strawberry. Still, he didn’t even like strawberries that much, he had only taken one to piss Gaku off.

“Hey, those are my strawberries.”

“You gave Tenn some too.”

“Tenn is different.”

“Oho? How so?”

“He’s a guest, and now get your beer and scram.”

“Yes, yes, on my way. Sorry for disturbing your married life.”

Gaku and Tenn simultaneously threw pillows at him.

 

 

“Say Ryuu, could you sent Tenn over in his cat form?”, Yamato said on the phone. He looked over at his witch, who was half-asleep under a mountain of blankets and pillows, “He’s had… you know. Cramps. They’ve been going on since yesterday night and he can’t get up. He hasn’t found any long-term solution for this yet, and it’s really bad for him, both physically and mentally... The problem is that our warm-water bottle broke last month. We forgot to buy a new one, and in his state he can’t use magic.”

“You want to use Tenn as a warm-water bottle?”, Ryuu laughed, but was already walking towards the shapeshifter’s room, “Tenn, you’re needed.”

A sleepy voice answered Ryuu. It was muffled, but Yamato still understood: “Needed? What for?”

“Gaku is having cramps and those two don’t have a warm-water bottle.”

“Just lend them your warm water-bottle?”

“Shhh, we don’t have a warm-water bottle. You’re going over there now. Let Riku transform into a human before you go though, so he can help me carry supplies later. You’re off for today.”

“Gee, thanks”, Tenn said, but Yamato heard footsteps that probably were on their way to go to Riku’s room in their apartment, to wake him up too.

“Sorry for waking you up”, Yamato said, though his worries for the mental well-being of his witch were more prevalent to him right now. They didn’t always act like it, but obviously Gaku and Yamato were friends. He never wanted anything to happen to him, especially not something scarring like this.

“It’s okay”, Ryuu assured him, “This is about Gaku’s health, so it’s definitely okay. If we can do anything else just tell us.”

“Do you have chocolate in the house by any chance?”, Yamato dabbed some sweat off of Gaku’s forehead, “We ran out last night already, and I’ll go buy it later, together with a new warm-water bottle.”

“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll send you a text when I’m almost there.”

“You’re dropping him off?”

“Obviously. I have to check up on you too after all. You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?”

Yamato was surprised that his boyfriend could hear his exhaustion through the phone, but then again Ryuu was an older brother of three. He probably heard more exhausted people in his life than Yamato could imagine.

Only a few minutes later Yamato received the text Ryuu had promised him, and he rushed to the door. As soon as the door had opened a white cat jumped from Ryuu’s arms and disappeared into Gaku’s bedroom.

“Hi”, Yamato said, and pushed up his glasses nervously.

“Hi to you too”, Ryuu smiled.

“I don’t think he wants you to see him right now, so I won’t let you in. If that’s okay for you.”

“Of course. One of my brothers is like that too though, so I’m experienced. If you ever need anything, tell me, yes? For now I brought chocolate and some tangerines.” He handed over a small gift basket. There even was a get-well-soon card.

“…okay. Thanks. You’re the best”, Yamato leaned up to press a kiss to Ryuu’s cheek, “See you later? When I drop Tenn off at yours?”

“Sure”, Ryuu said, “I’ll tell you when we get back from work. Love you.”

“Love you too”, Yamato said and waved Ryuu goodbye.

He returned to the bedroom, to set the gift-basket down and maybe refill Gaku’s glass of water. He also put a plate there, so if Gaku felt like peeling the tangerines he could leave the skin on the plate.

The sight that greeted him warmed his cold old-man heart.

Under the blankets, Tenn had curled up on Gaku’s abdomen in his cat form. Gaku’s fingers were tangled in the longer fur on Tenn’s back, and he himself was fast asleep, just like the cat was as well.

Maybe Yamato shouldn’t buy a new hot-water bottle after all.

 

 

Once again Gaku was greeted by a person next to his apartment, waiting for him to get home. He was wearing a dark sweater with a hood that was too big for him and looked suspiciously like Gaku’s own dark, hooded sweater. The hood was pulled over his head and face.

“Tenn?”, Gaku asked.

“Hi”, Tenn’s voice was rough and didn’t quite sound like himself, as if he had a sore throat.

“Is everything alright?”, he opened the door and Tenn got up from his position. He must have been cold, leaning against the stone wall like that. Autumn had already come again, and it had been a year since they had first met. The temperatures were dropping again.

“I was… cursed”, Tenn mumbled when he got inside, “On a mission. The vengeful ghost of a witch did it, and Ryuu says you’d have something against it.”

Gaku knew that Ryuu could also lift curses, but he wasn’t a specialist. Maybe that was why he had sent Tenn to Gaku, in hopes that he’d have an item or a potion in store for his familiar.

“I’ll see what I can do. What kind of curse is it?”

“It stopped my magic flow. And I was mid-transformation.”

Tenn pulled the hood of Gaku’s sweater (yes, this definitely was his, when had Tenn gotten hold of it?) and presented himself to Gaku.

On top of his head there were the cat ears that Gaku usually only knew when Tenn was in his cat-form. They were definitely real too, as they twitched uncomfortably under his gaze.

“So Nanase can’t help you either? Does the curse affect him too?”

“No, Riku can transform like normal when I’m there.”

“I see”, Gaku was roaming his supply shelf and collecting the ingredients he needed for the potion, “It’ll take about an hour or two until the potion is finished, so get comfortable.”

Tenn did as he was told and sat down on the sofa. In the time he had known the living room the sofa had been swapped once. The old brown fabric couch had been replaced with a grey couch from smooth leather.

“Do you want anything to drink while you wait?”

“No, I’m good for now.”

Gaku heated up his cauldron with a magic fire that didn’t need wood to burn and didn’t produce smoke. He regretted that Yamato wasn’t here yet, but it wasn’t like that fire would burn away his entire energy. Stirring in ingredient after ingredient he mumbled incantations, until the potion turned a hot pink.

“Now it has to simmer for at least half an hour”, Gaku said over his shoulder. He bewitched the wooden spoon to stir on its own, and sat down next to Tenn.

As if automated, which it kind of was at this point, Tenn stretched, and laid down on the couch, his head in Gaku’s lap. The familiar position was one that Gaku had seen and felt often already. But until now Tenn had never had those adorable cat ears paired with his human looks.

Carefully Gaku traced one of the ears, the one with the pink colour, with his thumb. It twitched, but Tenn didn’t pull away. Instead he _purred_ , a sound Gaku had never heard Tenn make in his human form. He truly was stuck between transformations. Gaku was glad that he could at least talk.

After his purr Tenn blushed bright red, and tried to hide his face in his hands. Gaku laughed quietly at the reaction and continued petting Tenn’s head. He gave special attention to the ears though. Tenn stopped feeling embarrassed about his purring after a while, and Gaku was glad about that. He loved seeing Tenn’s face react when he was feeling good, and it was a good distraction. Tenn really felt guilty that that witch’s ghost had been able to curse him.

After the time was up, Gaku checked on the potion. It had turned a good mint green colour, so he stopped the fire and filled some of it into a cup. He handed the cup to the shapeshifter, and as soon as he had tried a small sip, he smiled at Gaku.

“I think this is helping”, he said, “I won’t know until Riku gets here though.”

Gaku grinned. “Well, until then let’s sit down again, so I can play with those ears some more.”

“Idiot”, Tenn’s cheeks blushed again, “I don’t even know what’s so great about them…”

“I don’t know either. They just are.”

“Bad explanation.”

“Do you see me caring?”

“I don’t. Maybe you should start caring more.”

Hours later Yamato came home together with Ryuu and Riku, only to find the two of them sleeping on top of each other on the living room couch. He and Ryuu looked at each other knowingly, until Riku woke the two up, while trying to join in on the cuddling.

But at least the ears had disappeared, Tenn thought when he was trying to disentangle himself from the forceful hugs of his brother and Gaku.

 

 

The sun was just rising when Yamato got back from Ryuu’s place where he had stayed the night. He tiptoed into the living room to not wake Gaku, when he was surprised by the sight of a familiar face.

Tenn was sitting on the couch and was looking down at something in his lap. Well, more like someone, because when Yamato walked around the couch to look at the scene with a better angle, he saw a head of silver hair. Gaku’s face was pressed into Tenn’s stomach and by the even movement of his shoulders he was sleeping deeply.

Tenn’s eyes reflected the dim light in the room when he looked at Yamato.

“It was a full moon”, he whispered.

That explained everything. The moon was a great source of magical power, and some potions required to be brewed under that mystical silver light. Gaku's powers specifically responded to the moon very well, and when Yamato looked over at their kitchen counter he saw a wild arrangement of potions filled into flasks. He didn't even want to think about what kind of destruction, healing, or cursing all those potions could possibly cause.

"He exhausted himself because you weren't here."

The raven didn't know if that was supposed to make him feel guilty, because Tenn's whisper surely didn't manage to sound like that was the intention.

"You were with him though", he said.

"Right now I'm no more than a normal human being. All I could to was brew coffee after coffee for him, so he could stay awake longer. Riku was with his boyfriend tonight I assume?"

"Like I was", Yamato grinned at the thought, "kind of funny that we all spent the night with our boyfriends, huh?"

Tenn turned away from Yamato's gaze, probably to hide the blush that the light of the rising sun would surely show, if Yamato looked at him.

"How long have you been dating now, hm? Gaku won't tell me anything about his love life, that old gentleman. Probably wants to protect your privacy or something."

Tenn seemed to fumble with his words.  
"I... I believe we have been dating for quite a while now. The question is if Gaku himself knows."

Yamato couldn't conceal his laughter.  
"Who doesn't know that they're dating?!", he giggled, way louder than they had talked before, "What an idiot, sounds like him."

"Who is an idiot...?", Gaku’s voice was muffled by Tenn’s stomach. He had been woken up by Yamato's outburst. The witch blinked up, and could make out Tenn's face in the dimly lit room.

"You are", Yamato and Tenn answered in unison.

Gaku just closed his eyes again. "Nobody loves me", he mumbled into Tenn's stomach.

"Oh I'm pretty sure your boyfriend here loves you plenty."

"What boyfriend?"

"He's talking about me, Gaku."

"Tenn is my boyfriend?"

Out of the corner of his eye Gaku saw Yamato walking backwards out of the room, probably disappearing into his own bedroom. He could have sworn that his familiar had showed him finger guns as well. Why had he ever thought it had been a good idea to let that man into his house and life?

Tenn interrupted his thoughts by leaning forward and pressing his lips to Gaku's in a kiss. It was an awkward angle, and Gaku's mouth had gone numb from all the black coffee he had drunken last night, but despite those factors the kiss felt like coming home.

They really had missed out on something for the past year they had known each other.

"If you’d take me as your boyfriend, I'd be happy to oblige."

Gaku grinned up into Tenn's face sleepily. The whole situation was a little too much for him right now, he had barely slept for an hour and his head felt like a mid-sized dragon had used it as a hammock, but he still knew exactly what he wanted to do.

Gaku pulled Tenn down at his shoulder. Right before their lips met, he whispered two words.

"Hell yeah."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Leave a comment if you liked it :D
> 
> If you want to scream at me about anything you can do so on my [twitter](https://twitter.com/eins__kai) or [tumblr](https://einskai.tumblr.com/)~
> 
> Have a nice day!
> 
> \- Kai


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